Fritz Lang's Metropolis Film Review (1927)

Fig. 1 Poster

Imagine a world where there is no Photoshop, there is no Maya, no Mud-box, no After Effects. That is the world where filming and movie production started. In this age we can see how developed technology has helped shape a new world, that of smooth objects, bright vivid colour, amazing scores and epic dialog. It all had to start somewhere. Metropolis is considered the starting point of the Sci-fi genre. There are always films that open with great scenes, Dreamworks with their custom fisher boy on the moon, Disney with their Tinkerbell circling the castle. Metropolis, as described by Damian Cannon ''From its opening montage of meshing gears and pounding machinery, Metropolis is a visual masterpiece.'' (Cannon, 1997), brings to a close what to expect when trekking down the long road that is film history, it is the starting point of imagination, what can be considered as the Big Bang of filming history - of Science Fiction story-telling at its best. 

The very vibrant and elaborate sound score accompanying the version we watched could really blow you away and really played well with the scenes, especially when the orchestra struck up within the speed running and fight scenes. This film was mastered 7 years after Dr Caligari and as described by Alan Diment, ‘Metropolis’ should be seen by anyone who professes to love the moving image. Not only is it a historic piece of cinema but it is also part of history itself.'' (Diment, 2010) 

Metropolis, in all it expense is a large, crowded and flashing city-scape crafted so that it depicts the social differences of the pre-modern and post modern eras. When looking at the city, you can see two separate life-styles, the rich in the bright over head wonder land and the poor workers in the bustling hot, steam ridden, machine tangled underground.  When Freder first lays eyes on the beautiful - yet porcelain-ic, -

Fig. 2 Maria

Maria, his world turned 'upside-down', in the literal sense as he took a chance to follow her down into the depths of the under-city, where he learns the truth about his father's magnificent city. It is here that he makes the courageous decision to swap places with a worker - who betrays him and succumbs to the temptations of the Upper-city - to fully understand Maria's role among the workers and the truth bellow his Father's mind-land. In his struggle we can see how he is trying to explain to his father what happened when the Heart Machine exploded, what he is turning the under-city into, this only got his father furious and the scientist expert Josaphat fired and himself followed by the creepiest looking henchman of that time era, know as ‘The Thin Man’. 

Freder's father Joh Frederson, the man who is the brains behind the city which he now rules from a modern day interpretation of the Tower of Babel, invests the help of a mad scientist named Rotwang, who in his madness has created a robot that in all its detail, and incredible transformation is to become the embodiment of ''evil'' Maria, a doppelganger in this ''Surreal, sprawling, and operatic, drawing on biblical and medieval Christian imagery as well as H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine..'' (Greydanus, Unknown) explains Greydanus, and is instructed to try and destroy the influences that ''good'' Maria had placed among the workers and get the workers to rebel. This, undesirably, leads to some rather wacky scenes, where 'evil' robot Maria performs some body movements that would probably pull a few ribs out on the less flexible person. In any case she wins over the minds of the wealthy male gender and sends both factions of society into chaos. Eventually, after a typical but comical damsel in distress scene, Feder performs (good) Maria's envisage of the ''Mediator'' and unites the hand - the workers - with the head - the upper powers (aka Feder's Father) using himself as the heart. This was a very dense scene of the movie, it was slow moving but effective. It brought the movie to an end rather nicely - a binding of friendships long forgotten. 

The fact that this movie inspired many childhood fantasies, sparked the influence for C-3PO, even set the iconic image of the mad scientist, there isn't a doubt that this movie is the Father of Sci-Fi, because without it we couldn't enjoy the wonders of escapism, of surrealism in its richest and purest forms. I guess you could say, Metropolis is the building blocks of our imagination. Either that or stemming nightmares where the film's depiction of Death and the Seven Deadly Sins could haunt anyone's dreams.

Illustration List. 

Fritz, L. Figure 1. Poster http://i.huffpost.com/gen/905173/thumbs/o-METROPOLIS-facebook.jpg (Accessed on 30/09/2014)

Fritz, L. Figure 2. Maria http://metropolis1927.com/inc/img/11.jpg (Accessed on 30/09/2014)

Friz, L. Figure 3. Robot Maria http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2010/9/9/1284047852183/METROPOLIS-1927-UFA-film-006.jpg (Accessed on 30/09/14)

Bibliography

Cannon, B. (1997). Film.u-net.com. http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Metropolis.html (Accessed on 30/09/14)

Diment, A. (2010). Hackney Hive. http://www.hackneyhive.co.uk/index/2010/09/film-review-metropolis/ (Accessed on 30/09/14)

Greydanus, S. (unknown). Decent Films Guide. http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/metropolis1927.html (Accessed on 30/09/14)

Is it Atlantis? Moriana study

Moriana

Here is my study of Moriana, I wanted to do these quickly as I wanted to see how quickly I can do refined detailed drawings. As I am not interested in this city as much I wont be doing any more on this city. 

Exploring the desert city - Despina

I really liked this city and its description so I used some time during the photoshop tutorial to make three larger thumbnails displaying how I thought about lighting and difference between foreground and back ground. I rather am proud of this idea and it will feature in my key concepts on my review. It may even be part of my final designs. I just need to work on other thumbnails from this city.

Despina

I may be jumping the gun slightly by introducing detail to my thumbnails a little sooner then required but I thought it would be good if I tried to do so. I think my next step would be to begin some hand drawn concepts in my sketch book as I have been focussing to heavily on the digital side of the work. After that, and finishing the thumbnails for the remaining cities I will set to work in using colour - if thats the right course for me anyway. 

UPDATE:

Here are the last three I did of Despina. They were a lot quicker as I wanted to do a little ''speed painting''. I timed myself and within 3 mins did these three.

This does therefore bring me up to the 100 thumbnail minimum, but I have not yet done all the cities so I will continue! 

Anastasia and Argia Thumbnail

So I have finished working on the Argia half (bottom set of eight) during the photoshop tutorial. This tutorial spoke about contrast, tonal arrangement, determining foreground and backgrounds.

Anastasia (top) and Argia (bottom)

I decided to apply tones lightly and more shape and detail on the last 4 images in an attempt to practise this for the photoshop tutorial task that we were to produce.

Maya Tutorial

So I was experimenting with Maya and I seem to have created a strange cave man - I found the fur tool...... Later I will have to practice that as I am interested about the fur tools. Other then that I still have no clue what I am doing - I can't get my head around it all - I just feel like I clicking buttons and there is stuff happening on the screen. So I will have to take a look a the tutorial videos, see if I can actually make something properly.

He does look rather creepy, sort of like a Simpsons character who has not shaved or hasn't got much hair, and no skin either.....

Anastasia, City of Desire

So I decided to split one of the thumbnails template sheets in half, in doing so I can work on two cities on one thumbnail - as of this stage I actually have a small selection of cities that will make my key thumbnail/concept art choices for the final pieces - So I am working on some ideas for the remainder cities that I have not looked at yet.

Anastasia

During this set I was thinking about camera angles - in response to how we are to present our final pieces. I am not that great at perspective, but I looked at examples given to me by my mentor and attempted to mimic some of these shots. For example in #80 I have an interior establishing shot of a bath, #81 is a exterior wide shot of the city and #82 is the low angle shot looking up at the kites. #85 I did not get the perspective perfect but I like how this worked out, the mine in the corner with the cart and the ''slaves'' taking the product into the city, it just expresses narrative and plays on the description of the city. I think I might take numbers #80, #85 and #82 further as part of my key thumbnails. But I am undecided at the moment.

Blogger header version 1 - progess

So I have seen other student's blogs and how they have a header, so I thought I'd design my own just for fun, so here is what I have so far. I like the style so far and plan to leave it in this sketchy, undefined way as it expresses the use of the paintbrush and loose style. I also plan to keep the woman's face blank as it will covey the idea that no one would know what I look like - there is no face to the name, but the personality is reflected in the art and style - I am just the girl who does art  and I have a strange affliction with wolves.....

 In turn this has also allowed me to practice with the tablet and Photoshop. The drawing comes from an adaptation of Mitch Foust, a Comic Artist I stumbled upon last year when researching for my character design project. His pencil work is outstanding and beautiful. I dipped back into last years project to stylize the woman with clothes my character wore, as well as the fur colour to give the wolves.

Blogger header design

 Its not perfect in terms of anatomy but I am proud of its progression. I think I can apply my own text to it but I will have to fiddle with the Blogger settings to find out.

(Foust, M Blogger header design  http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=603288 Accessed on 27/09/2014)

Influence Maps

                                                                     Influence Map 1.
I have been looking over the cities with a highlighter in hand I thought it be about time I look at some influential images revolving around the architecture of the city. Out of the cities we have looked at so far I have found a few that have caught my eye. The images in Map 1 are in response to 6 different cities. I used my own layout for the maps rather than the one described below the images because the larger the image, the more I find it influential For example, I have in the top left, a concept drawing of a futuristic stage, this reminds me of the spider city as its like they all crawled along there strings to sit and listen to the performer. Then in the middle to the right, the one with the bridge and statues is a combination of the descriptions of the bridge sign and statues in Tamara, I also chose this image because I have personally walked along that bridge. It's located in Würzburg, Germany. Bottom left there is an image of Harry Potter's Diagon Alley, this popped into my head while reading the description of Tamara,  magically made this appear in the concept that narrow streets filled with sign posts could ultimately be depicted in this scene. The image of the the black and white bridge came from a description of Ersila, as it describes a labyrinth of  strings and poles in similar description to Octavia.

Influence Map 2

The influence Map 2 are in response to 4 cities, including Tamara and Baucis, two cities that I have already down thumbnails for. I included the Harry Potter image again as its larger and clearer in this Map. I have an image of Tatooine from Star Wars here to depict Argia, the city made of earth, as well as images that again relate to Tamara. I also have images that I chose due to descriptions of Baucis.

@Phil - Question!

@Phil

I just wanted to know what content should be included when doing the concept artist research, is it basically their name, there location, and some examples of their work plus why I like it?

Photoshop Practise

So during the afternoon I was practicing with Photoshop, I was mainly attempting to make a .gif. But I decided just to continue to work on this little Spyro using a technique that I have know for years.

Tamara City Thumbnails

Tamara

The city of Signs. 

So I spent my lunch break before my Maya/afternoon tutorial today working on a thumbnail series on a city I was reading up on called Tamara. The basic principle is that the city is known for its signs, god statues, statues with shields and zebras.

Baucis Complete - Final City page for first photoshop tutorial

I decided to finish Baucis last as I was finding this city difficult to design thumbnails for. But number 48 seems to have worked in my favour a little so I will try and develop that one amoung others.

Brushes - Photoshop Tutorial

My practice in photoshop with the given and preset brushes allowed me to create this canvas of wonders. It is a doorway to a universe unknown....

Esmeralda Photoshop tutorial task

The city of Esmeralda required a task of using the lasso and marque tool to create scenes that seemed abstract. It was very quick and fluid to create strange aspects of this city. 

Robert Wienes Des Cabinet des Dr.Caligori (1920) - Film Review

Des Cabinet des Dr.Caligori (1920)

Fig. 1 Film Poster

A film is not always a film to watch, but a film to be a part off. It is not easy to figure out the story of a movie with no narrative, the narrative is in the imagery, the art and the music associated with the play. As Paul Bradshaw mentions in his article for The Guardian, ''This strange and fascinating classic of the silent era [is] the template for today's scary movies, noirs and thrillers.'' Dr. Caligori is the embodiment of film making, the kindergarten of the filming industry – to its respective genre of course.

When it comes to Dr. Caligori, first impressions have to be in reference to Tim Burton and The Adams Family as the design and the artistry is dark and depressive. The make-up of the female lead Jane and Cesare really made this movie as cryptic, dark and brooding as it can be. Cesare is by far my favourite, he is the doppelgänger if you will, or the evil twin of Mr. Francis. The movie is within the mind if this fantastic mad man. A paranoid Schizophrenic, who's twisted delusion is that the Director of the insane asylum is Dr. Caligori. Dr. Caligori, which the actor reminds me of Mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter series, in Francis's eyes, is the mad one who uses Cesare, a somnambulist – someone who is a sleep-walker, to commit murders. The acting is over-dramatic, yet powerful, as they tell the story well. Sabrina Stent describes the character of Dr Caligori in response to the newer archived version of the film, ''The whiteness of every eyeball adds a greater drama to the film and Caligori’s twisted mouth, manic eyes and straw-like hair exaggerate the psychological extremes of his personality ''.

Fig. 3 Roof Still

The most famous depiction of Cesare as a character is within the famous still of Cesare standing atop some very obscure rooftops carrying the unconscious body of Jane. The artwork of this scene is beautiful for its age. It dips into the idea that Cesare isn't normal, so neither is the world. Which should everything be normal when the he is not. This reminds me a little of King Kong, the moment when the outcast monster of the film takes the fair maiden hostage. Its the iconic ''maiden in distress'' scene, but in this instance there is not really a hero but only the villain himself. Somewhere here I seemed to have lost a part of the story as Cesare drops Jane, runs a little and then collapses. I don't know whether the ''spell'' Dr Caligori had over him to wake him up subsided or he died. But the scene when the men were carrying the table with him covered over does suggest that he is no longer within the living world, but that could have only been because they wanted to hide his demeanour and his horrific appearance from the public or that he has merely fallen back into his deep 23 year death-like slumber.

Fig. 2 Street Still.

The conclusion of this film was not surprising but made me more curious to see a little more intricately into the mind that is Francis. Thinking over now, there was small indications that it was simply Francis going mad rather than anything, and I think it all came down to the fact that as Francis's friend Alan had been murdered – as he was describing to the gentleman in the park – Francis was in a state of grievance that lead him to go completely insane. This being said, after Alan asked Cesare how long he had to live and being told he had until dawn, and being this the mind of Francis, does that mean Francis killed his own friend? Could Francis be the murder of the victims? Could that have placed him in the Asylum and caused him to blame the director? I suppose this can then lead to a cliff-hanger, as the flashbacks of which Francis was telling the story only showed his side of the tale, the audience cannot see other view points. What would have happened if Jane had told the story? Jane was depicted at the beginning of the film in a long white gown walking or rather gliding ghost-like, past the gentleman and Francis after they were discussing that there were spirits walking around. In a twisted sense you could see it as the old man being Francis from the future and then the younger Francis is reminding himself of the tale, therefore being a spirit himself and that would mean Jane is a ghost from his past. ''Of course, while your brain is fritzing out, - (the film is) Scary, disturbing, intriguing, all at once. '' Neil Genzlinger's quote from Metacritic via the New York times, although reviewing the remake version of this film get it right regardless. The film is down right creepy, but deep in rich story and a clear map as to Tim Burtons concept of dark and other-worldly cryptic ideas.

What has been learnt from this? We are not all the same, someone can be depicted as insane when they feel normal. This story can make you think, make you imagine, make you go mad. But ultimately it resembles the fragile hostility of human kind and human nature. Your mind is your best tool, but also your weakest.

Illustration list.

Wiene, R. (1920) Figure 1. Caligari Poster. http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Cabinet-Of-Dr.-Caligari-.jpg (Accessed on 23/09/14)

Wiene, R (1920) Figure 2. Street Still. http://mayostreetarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-granger.jpg (Accessed on 23/09/14)

Wiene, R (1920) Figure 3. Rooftop Still. http://www.leninimports.com/cabinet_of_dr_caligari_poster_shop_new_2.jpg (Accessed on the 23/09/14)

Bibliography.

Bradshaw, P (2014). The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/28/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-film-review (Accessed on the 23/09/14)

Stent, S (2014). Silent London http://silentlondon.co.uk/2014/06/24/das-cabinet-des-dr-caligari-review/(Accessed on the 23/09/14)

Genzlinger, N (2006). Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari (Accessed on the 23/09/14)

Film Review: La Voyage dans Lune, Georges Méliès (1902)

La Voyage dans La Lune (1902)

Fig. 1 - Film Poster

Georges Méliès's La Voyage dans La Lune can be approached from many angles, whether an art student, film and media student, normal person or a computer animated arts student, everyone will their own opinion. Such a short piece wouldn't get much favour with the average crowd without knowing the story that is the history and background of this film. The film world of the 21^st century cannot receive credit for there masterpieces without this film. ''A work of pure, playful imagination, a picture-book fantasy brought to life with intricate, hand-painted sets and a whimsical portrait of science as wizardry by way of the industrial revolution.'' (Sean Axmaker, 2012)

Fig 2. Film still - ready for take off

A film originally inspired from Jules Verne's De la terre à la lune (1865) and by H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1901), I hadn't really given it much thought as to what to expect from it. I had seen the famous bullet in the moon's eye image about but not really looked into its origin. When the film started my first impression was to roll my eyes, sigh and just watch it, but as soon as I saw the wizard's my attention spiked and I instantly thought of Dumbledore from J.K Rowlings Harry Potter series.

It made me laugh for a good few moments and I perked up and watched. The story was a little hard to grasp to start with but I gathered the general gist was that the Elder scientist proposed to his colleges an idea that struck and confounded them, caused an uproar and then suddenly they were all getting in this bullet shell to be blasted off through a giant cannon to the moon. Theoretically impossible of course but that is the world of science fiction and fantasy.

Fig. 3 Aliens Attacking

As it's described as being ''remarkable for its imaginative, and continually diverting, narrative development. The serious, didactic purpose of the literary antecedents is ignored to provide an engaging entertainment.'' R. F. Cousins (2-14). I shocked myself when I actually enjoyed it, I knew what was happening and was feeling slightly nostalgic as the style of art used in the movie was simplistic and poorly presented, and that then was magic.

Fig. 4 Greedo Concept Art

Now its just a reference to the history and development of the Film, SFX and VFX industry today. The aliens really and I mean REALLY reminded me of Greedo from George Lucas' Star Wars, as the masks from what I can see resemble them so closely for a moment it was like we just stepped into the Star Wars galaxy.

Although we did not watch it with the original score, the music fit perfectly with what was happening, silent films have no voice overs so its like watching it with noise cancelling headphones on. The actors mouths would be moving but nothing. Like being deaf to everything – a strange thing to be encountering if you think about how today everything is narrated, and then you see in the 20^th century they hadn't quite figured out how to add voice. How did they even cope with that? ''Their grandiose score will make you glad that this silent film [Melies' 1902 film A Trip to the Moon] isn't silent anymore.'' Entertainment Weekly (2012). 

When the screen faded and the film finished I kinda had this anticipation that there would be more to the story but obviously there wasn't enough time/budget/art/story for it to continue. But, at least it wasn't as long as the second movie we watched. 

Illustration List

Méliès, G (1902). Fig 1. Film Poster. http://fr.praesens.com/praesensdeutsch/assets/Image/Kino/voyage/High/poster.jpg. (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Méliès, G (1902). Fig 2. Film Still. http://www.shadowlocked.com/images/le%20voyage.jpg (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Méliès, G (1902). Fig 3. Film Still. http://mindreels.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/voyage-dans-la-lune-1902-03-g.jpg (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Bernardi, S (2013). Fig 4. Concept Art http://cargocollective.com/stefanobernardi/Greedo (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Bibliography

R. F. Cousins, (2014) Film Referance http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Vi-Wi/Le-Voyage-dans-la-Lune.html. (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Axmaker, S, (2012) Via rottontomatoes.com 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_voyage_dans_la_lune/. (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Entertainment Weekly, (2012). Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/le-voyage-dans-la-lune-a-trip-to-the-moon/air. (Accessed on: 23/09/2014)

Thumbnail Page 4 - Armilla

Concept art is a tricky thing, there isn't always a definite result straight away, thats why thumbnails are simple and effective as they help determine what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Looking at the fourth and final city called Armilla, I can instantly image what it must have been like to walk through such a desolate place. The discretion might lack in a inspirational sort of way as there isn't much to draw from it. But there are ways in which this can be used to make plenty of thumb nails. I did struggle a little - tablet malfunctions mainly but I managed to create a thumbnail set in response to the description provided.

The cities Baucis and Esmerelda images will be coming in post tomorrow as I wasn't able to save them properly to be able to access them on multiply computers.

So here is Armilla:

Armilla - Invisible Cities

I numbered these correctly and I will be re-numbering my other ones.

Results of Tutorials 1.

So I have completed my first day and first set of tutorials in Photoshop and Maya. I haven't finished all the tasks set in the Photoshop tutorial as we ran out of time. But so far I have completed two tasks. Task two however didn't save as a .JPEG correctly so I will have to upload that tomorrow.

First off, Auto Desk Maya isn't as bad as people make it out to be - An opening statement I later will regret.  It can be infuriating as I can see will or might happen in the future, but its just simple clay modelling in a system of complex and way over my head type things that I haven't done since school. I'm sure to make quick friends with Maya but I prefer and already on a best friend bases with Photoshop. The thumb nail exercises were fun quick and honestly did not think I was in there for 3 hours.

So, with no actual incentive I randomly placed a few objects on the grid and began to play around a little, as Simon was explaining some things we could do I tried to follow his instruction but I think I can safely say, sometimes its better to learn by using your mouse and wander. After deleting a few abstract concoctions, I placed a Sphere shape on the grid and some how managed to mould it in to a weird dog head shape. Spent about 10 mins on the left ear and for the life of me couldn't work out how I did that to mimic the second ear. So my poor little dog has a lopsided right ear. A little more time and I guess the rest of the tutorials and I could really make something out of this. But for now little dog is in the unsaved section of tedious Maya.






Next we have my wonderful pal Photoshop. No problems or complaints here, I quite enjoyed this task.

First of all (and I will upload it tomorrow) we did a play around with the brush tool, which experimented with the given and pre-set brushes as well as testing the touch sensitive section of the tablet. After this we began the 4x thumbnail template tasks. Here is the first. Taking into account of the descriptive passage we were given this is city one: Octavia.  I particularly like number 16 and number 13 as I can see something forming easily in them. And they remind me of a scene in a movie - blast I forgot the names.

 This is task number 3 and is a work in progress of the the third city. At the moment, number 3 and 4 are my favourites and I would much like to work with them two a little more.

As I have said the second task didn't save correctly and I shall be doing task 4 as a ''homework'' task.




Day 1 is complete and so far I like it.

The how and the what.

Today was our first day of tutorials and Maya was a pain, but I will try and get the hang of it. Photoshop is not new to me but the newer graphics tablets with the touch sensitivity was. I made a weird dress thing while I was waiting for the photoshop tutorial basics to finish.

It was quick and simple, my first time using a newer edition of the tablets, unfinished and scruffy but I like it.

The most behind the posts.

Sitting in the lecture theatre today made me realise some things about blogging, and how it can be a tool for promoting myself as an artist. So I thought after spending a tedious hour adding everyones blogs to the reading list I would make a quick little post to share some of my previous work that got me to this point before all the really really important stuff starts - mainly work I did on my last project (UAL Extended Diploma in Art and Design) as it plays relevance to what I aim to become in the future - or at least part of it. I want to become a digital concept character or landscape/environment artist.

So here it goes, I would appreciate opinions from everyone as it shall help in the future when we begin the character design. - And Phil I apologise - there will be an element of wolves.

 Project Title: Friendship, Love, Paws and Fur.

The project was a 10 week project that we could mould and write ourselves - over a pre-set brief. We had to make something visual and constructive, while undergoing intense and rewarding research assignments that we set ourselves.

My project base started with a story, a narrative I began writing in 2010, There wasn't really much to the story but the main concept I took from it was character design and using my own words to produce an idea of what these characters should look like. Therefore my research broadened from story telling to character concepts. 

This image is of my ''title'' page for the journal we kept. It has now been adopted as my pet-name.

As my project was relative to that of the life of a wolf I had to under go a series of studies of wolves and there anatomy - there are more images but I don't have a copy to add. So I drew a series of images on the different aspect of a wolf's looks.

 These two images represent the final pieces I created at the end of the project. It took me a little over a week for each of the three images I made. All created using Photoshop and hand drawn with a graphics tablet. 

And finally here is the final three along side each other on the wall of our studio ready for the FMP show. So 10 weeks over, passed with a pass and now I get to sit in the studio of the CAA rooms and get better at this.


If anyone is interested in seeing more of my past work, my deviant art as most of what I have managed to scan and take photos off - Click here.














And now all there is left to do is continue to blog-a-day and have fun with this new experience.

Summer project Complete!!!!

So here are the three turn around that I completed today. Relieved and relaxed now I can rest till Monday without having to panic. 

 Here is the first turn-around that consists of one of my first drawings of a machine.

 Here is the second again one of my first drawings of a structure which is like a house but a creepy futuristic style housing.

And then there's light-thing that looks like a very creepy light bulb being.

Finished!

Final set of the 101 concept designs.

So here is the rest of the 101 concept art sketches that I have done. To try and think of the remainder images was difficult because I didn't really have much inspiration. I didn't do any silhouettes like I mentioned in the previous post. I will now be finishing the front back and side drawings hopefully before Monday but there has been problems with my flat so I had to deal with that mostly. 

This is number 75 - 77 I was thinking about water based objects.

These are number 77-86 mainly inspired around items in my room. 

 Here are numbers 86 - 95 also inspired by items in my room and also an episode of Big Bang theory that was about when Howard goes to space.

Here are numbers 86 - 101 and a big THE END at the end. I cheered when I drew the creepy .... Don't even know. But still here you go awesome people, see you Monday!

My Summer Project Progress

Here we go then, my current progress on the 101 concept images. I did not want to do the silhouette thing because I thought it would be just simpler and easier for me just to have the paper in front of me with all the objects on it and then my sketch book open and just draw in a Life Form - Structure - Mechanic - Life form - Structure - Mechanic .... Etc style. But around #50 I lost my imaginative flare and my sketchbook just sat there for a few weeks. But I picked it up recently and tried to get from #55 to #75 and I did. 

 This first set of images (1-9) were mainly inspired by what I have seen on the examples provided on the summer project listings. My favourites include number 1, 2, 3, and 4. A mixture of machine, life-form and structure. I started these in pen as I hadn't any pencils until I cold go buy one. 

 This second set of images (10 - 16), were inspired by pokemon mainly as I was playing pokemon before drawing this set. I particularly favorite number 10 and 12 as they are very cute. 

 Numbers 17 - 25, my favorites of this set would be number 18, 24 and 25 as they also are cute and remind me of pokemon. 

 Numbers 26 - 37, I do not have a favorite on this page. 

 Numbers 38 - 51

 Numbers 52 - 65, on this set I am proud of number 52 as it looks like Charmander from pokemon. 

Numbers 66-75 and I have favorites numbering 66, 69, 71, 72 and 75. 

I will hopefully be proceeding with the drawings this coming week and finishing them. 

As I cannot use Photoshop at home and do not have a graphics tablet at the moment everything will be pencil drawn - again taking a blow to the positivism of my work as it will not be to the best that I can do as I am limited. 

My official first post! Hello World!

Hi there! 

My name is Julia, nice to meet you all! I thought I would re-write my previous post so that it would be formal, professional and greet you all with a big smile! I am very much looking forward to meeting new people and seeing some old faces. 

I have been working diligently to do this summer project, and looking at others work my level of drawings is not - what I would call - on the same level. In doing so I have had a blow to my positive outlook towards my work, however, I will not let that get my spirits down and will continue - I'm currently on 75/101 sketches and will be trooping on this week to get everything finished. 

So just a little more about me now, my favorite colour is purple. My favorite animal is a Wolf (and you may hear Phil call me Wolf-Girl a lot :D ) and I am into music and wolves........ :) 

If I can get round to it I will be uploading some of my first drawings today, as yesterday was my Birthday and I haven't got round to doing so :) 

Anyway see you all in just over two weeks and happy drawing!